15193/A Grizzly Scenario OR: Trouble's a Bruin!

A Grizzly Scenario OR: Trouble's a Bruin!
Date of Scene:	10 June 2023
Location:	Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Follow a tragic supervillain's plight to make a name for himself in the face of rampant spider-and-hawkeye bullying. All he wants is for people to remember his name, and to have a truck full of money. Who's the REAl supervillain here, we ask you? (Bruin. It was Bruin.)
Cast of Characters:	Silk, Hawkeye (Bishop), Ghost Spider

---

Silk has posed:
"Oh my god! Are you the Grizzly??"

Cindy Moon would be one of the first to tell you: life is hard. So she empathizes. Some might say too much. Sometimes, though, sometimes--

"I am not the Grizzly, I'm BRUIN! Completely different person!!"

--sometimes she just can't prodding a little.

Blame it on those spider-genes.

This is the unfortunate case she finds herself in as she chases after what looks like a giant, bipedal grizzly bear in an armored vest and tacticool pants, currently smashing his way through Clinton. The big man - easily a good two times Cindy's size - who is insisting he be called BRUIN is all over the news at the moment, after having stolen an armored car. Not the contents -- just the entire thing.

Which he's currently holding over his head as he charges a fruit market past several bewildered, frantic bystanders.

By his reckoning -- it was too much of a pain to figure out how to get into the thing, so he decided he'd just take the whole car and figure it out later.

It's a good plan.

Shut up.

Where's Cindy, you ask? Why, the Sassy Silk (adjective pending) is currently thwipping her way through the bodega after Bruin; offering some heartfelt apologies to passerbies, webbing a few civilians out of the way, she webs the back of the armored car up with the spinning silk from her fingers, seizing the thing with her webline and -yanking- it to try to hold it, and Bruin, back. The man is suddenly caught just before exiting the fruit shop, stumbling backwards as the weight of the armored car tilts back. It strains--

"Ungh-- I've gotta say, Mr. Grizzly sir, it's an honor -- I looked up old footage for totally normal spider-reasons, and you're like -- one of the original weirdos! That's so cool!"

"I said -- my name -- is BRUIN!"

"Is this like... one of those pro wrestler heel turn things, or... -- WAH!"

--and that's about when Cindy learns it doesn't actually pay to web up -literally everything-, as Bruin just kind of -- swings the armored car around, hurling her straight out of the fruit shop and into another corner convenience store across the street with the shatter of glass and the explosive collision of one (1) spider-vigilante with several racks of Hostess snack cakes.

"ow."

And as poor Silk drags herself out of collapsed snack racks, off Bruin continues to chug with armored car in tow.

"I swear, maybe I shoulda bought a different suit -- goddamn Grizzly makin' it so hard to build a good rep in this town--"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
If anyone were to ask. Kate Bishop was totally on patrol like may heroes doe when Bruin as he insists tries to hit an armored car. She was actually just crossing town in her Pontiac to get home. So the clamor or traffic being held up and the fight going on between the bear shaped person and the sultry spider-powered silk it kind of gets one in a mood.

"Is that Grizzly?" she yells out, the woman strapping her quiver to her back. There's enough purple in her leather jacket to pass as a uniform along with black jeans. Enough padding and armoring too since she can afford it but it's hardly tactical.

That's all set up in her quiver as she moves closer to the fight, drawing a flashbang arrow while she looks for a good spot to line up a shot that can hopefully speed things up. "I'm sure the lady with the webs has better things to do than drag your hairy butt to the nearest cop!" she yells while letting loose with the noise maker while Silk takes a moment to catch her breath.

Ghost Spider has posed:
EARLIER

Gwen Stacy, aka The Really Cool Ghost Spider, was loafing around at home. Her day job was done and she drew the 'No Patrol Today' straw, so she was preparing to eat her dinner of Bachelorette Chow and watch some brainless television when her phone began to explode. Figuratively.

Sighing, she considered ignoring it in favor of Netflix, but she looked. Videos. Tweets. Livestreams.

"Aw man," she grumps, staring at her bowl of leftover fried noodles.

NOW

Costumed and thwipping, Ghost Spider arrives on scene just in time to watch Her Pal get slung into a convenience store and get buried in fruit pies. She lands in the Traditional Spider Pose before rising to scurry towards the broken window. "You okay, Silk? That looked like it was ... hard to bear."

Oh no.

Silk has posed:
Silk groans as she drags herself up onto her feet, rubbing her eyes to help them refocus. She looks at the snack cake ruin around her. To the store clerk. To the ruin. To the clerk.

"... I swear, I'll pay for all the damages."

"..."

"... Mmmmost of the damages."

"..."

"S-some of the damages?"

"..."

And so it is that Ghost Spider will find Silk, sullenly marching out of the ruined convenience store with two armfuls of smooshed Sno Ball boxes and zero cash. She blinks. Peers at her good pal, Gwen. Scoops boxes of snacks into the crook of one arm to raise a finger in preemptive protest. "I'm fine--" she begins. And then-- comes the wordplay.

Silence reigns in which Bruin has a whole five seconds of escape time while Silk just stares, blankly, at Ghost Spider.

"I just got hurled through a store and lost all my grocery money on overpriced sugar bombs and I want you to know that what you just said was by far the most painful thing I've dealt with today. I hope you feel guilty. ... Beary... guilty."

In the backdrop, the store clerk just groans.

MEANWHILE,

Behold, innovation: as superpowered criminals became more and more prevalent in New York, investments have been made to create an armored car that can withstand them. ... Most of them. Some of them. THE POINT IS: the big loading vehicle Bruin is lugging around is virtually impenetrable even to his titanic strength.

-Unfortunately-, this also means the guy's basically lugging around an unvulnerable bludgeon. And now that it has a webline attached to it, well --

Is that Grizzly?

"Oh you dick--" Bruin, about to march off into the sunset, wheels around. "For the LAST TIME, IT'S--"

-=fhwing=-! goes the flashbang arrow. Bruin swipes at it by reflex.

The subsequent flash, and bang, fills up the Clinton streets for a brief, blinding second.

"--BRUAGH!"

Blinded and ears buzzing, Bruin stumbles backwards. One great grizzly paw reaches up to grope at his bear-armored face. The other --

--the other, having been using that web line as a convenient tow line, SWINGS, sending that entire armored car soaring through the air like a car-shaped wrecking ball blindly aimed in Kate's general direction. Even if it doesn't hit, it'd undoubtedly cause some collateral damage --

--if not for a last minute intervention as Silk leaps into the fray, attempting to web up and -yank- that car one more time mid-swing to send it off-course. Which should, hopefully, give Kate time to move out of the way.

"Hey! Don't take your anger out on, um-- this woman!" sorry kate it's not your fault cindy was just literally under a rock for like a decade--

"Sorry, Grizzly's kinda going through some stuff right now I think--"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
It might not have been one of Kate's best ideas. Well in theory it did work and the large furry is stunned and he let go of the car. The problem is it was moving fast and he has the strength to fling the vehicle like it was a tether ball.

"Ohhhhh futz me in the alps!" she saves the swearing for other moments. This while life threatening doesn't qualify.

Luckily Spider-People are a lot faster than even she is despite all that training so a webline seems to pull the trajectory away enough hat Kate can jump and dodge and look for some cover that might not get her crushed like mixing grape and raspberry jelly.

"Hey I get it, branding can be a pain. Especially when there's someone trying to use your code name. He can be Grizzly if he wants to be Grizzly!" she points out.

"I mean hey, two Hawkeyes!" she adds and nocks a couple more arrows aimed at knees.

Only light explosives. The giant and very strong guy can probably not lose legs but it might feel like the equivalent of a Tonya Harding in Skyrim special.

"So if this drops him, you two can so like web him up? Think with his strength the two of ya can manage that, then Grizzly can have a nice chat with defense lawyers and intellectual property lawyers!" she suggests a plan.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen's favorite part of Spider Duty is the sass. And the puns. And the sticking to walls. Okay, she's into all of it. She grins at Cindy from under her mask, and it's audible in her voice. "I'll trade you some of my cooking for some of those terrible for you snacks." A pause. "After we take down this ...unkoalafied ...person of ursine ... Okay. I quit. I'm already out of bear puns."

She thwips off after Cindy, chasing the big bear guy with the armored car equipped. Silk goes to redirect the car, so Ghost Spider goes for the feet. "Hey pal, you're a long way from the Hundred Acre Wood." Both arms extend and she just starts laying webbing down as fast as her web shooters can produce it, trying to gunk up his feet, stick him to one place.

She's going to get hurled like a mile for this.

Silk has posed:
Like Cindy's going to say no to Gwen's cooking.

"Like I'm going to say no to your cooking."

See?

These are her final words before she's off (her final -act- is to cluck her tongue at Gwen in disappointment as she runs empty on bear puns).

"You should have said something about PANDAriiiiiiiiiiiiiing--!" thwip!

okay so -those- were her final words

Which brings us to

NOW

Where Cindy uses all of her considerable strength to SWING the momentum of that multiton currency carriage-slash-mace in a more harmless direction. "Ohhhhh I don't like thiiiiis--!" Her arms feel like they're going to pop out of their sockets from the strain; but somehow, she manages, sending the front of the car crashing into an empty stretch of street with such force that it just kind of...

... sticks vertical out of the hole it just made NYC-quality asphalt. Silk stares, wide-eyed.

"... Holy crap. I did it!"

Please excuse Silk for taking a little moment for a proud fistpump. She's just -- so happy to get a win.

"Wait. There are two Hawkeyes?! Who's the second??" she'll feel so bad i swear "Aren't they worried they'll get sued? ... Are superheroes litigious?"

Meanwhile, Griz-- BRUIN is in the middle of trying to yank that car out of the earth when suddenly he finds himself dealing with a SECOND spider darting past him. "Whu--" begins Bruin -- only to for that grizzly maw of a mask to contort into a scowl webbing starts to stick him to the cracked, fissuring street.

"What the hell is it -- with all these -- goddamn -- SPIDERS!" roars Bruin; he manages to -yank- his feet out of the first few webs, but -- they just keep -coming-, and as he tears his boot out of -one-, a second just -pulls- it back down to the street, and then a third, and fourth, and --

--and eventually it all starts to pile up, leaving him securely stuck in place and thoroughly distracted.

Which is about when he -lashes- out, trying to take hold of Gwen by the hood of her outfit and, indeed, just -- hurl her STRAIGHT through the air with his considerable strength.

"You people aren't even THAT FUNNY!"

It's a very mean thing to say, but, his feelings are hurt. It's also a very violent action --

But it's one that might work out in Gwen's favor, considering how it lines up perfectly with Kate's fired arrow. It hits the man in the knee; he barely feels it, grunting and looking down with a squint.

"What the... aw, crap."

BOOM

And so, Bruin takes an arrow to the knee; stuck as he is, the resulting explosion seconds one foot ripping painfully out of its webbing, collapsing the large man to one knee with a roar as he grips the other. It's a small window -- but one the heroes can use to finish the job.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"It's not his fault he's feeling Baloo." Even Kate can't help but throw a pun or two into the mix. Hawkeyes do have that same penchant as Spiders.

"Guess he and Grizzly are just Polar opposites." she adds. It's terrible but that's the problem with the material the three women have to work with.

The mention of two Hawkeyes, being one herself gets a grin on the brunette's lips. "The first guy is cool with it, we hashed it out over an archery contest. Plus I can afford better lawyers than him. Others might get litigious over names but no beef being Hawkeye since I can back my words up with my aim and stuff." she points out.

Bruin's contribution did get a frowny face aimed at the giant of a person. At least their strategy of taking feet out from underneath him seems to work.

"Look, we're being nice, relatively. Do you want us to be mean. These lovely ladies are very strong and very fast. That's not a combination ya want annoyed with you. I just have a bow and arrow. And my arrows can do a lot of very harmful things!" she adds and nocks a rather standard pointy one. "To squishy eyeballs and stuff. I'd rather not cause it might go into squishy brains but you get the idea right?" she manages to make threatening sound cheery.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen and the webs and the giant bear man situation is going pretty well. Sticking him to the asphalt, taunting him with sass. Then he says they aren't very funny. Ghost Spider recoils like he just punched her.

"W-what?! That's not true! We're hilario---waugh!"

Grabbed and hurled upwards with impossible force, Gwen almost ragdolls in the air, her body twisting with the sheer force. She misses the explosion, though, so that's nice. As gravity takes back over, she sends out a webline to a lightpost and swings around it, spiraling back towards the ground.

"Let's get 'im, ladies!"

The Ghost Spider engages in the Bouncy Ball Protocol, using her inhuman agility and speed to bounce off the ground, kick BRUIN in the face, only to springboard from his face, land on her hands, twist and then bounce back up to do it again!

Spiders are made of rubber.

Silk has posed:
"Huh. Well, if everyone's cool with it, I don't see what the problem is!" decides Silk, with a firm nod. And this is when she pauses. Chews over what Kate actually said. And blinks.

Her red half-mask at least covers half of the way she blanches as she realizes--

"Ohhhh you're the other Hawkeye. Sorry! I've just -- been busy! With normal spider-things!"

She half-wonders if she's going back to that well too much to cover her tracks. ... No. It's fine. She's gotten enough of a grasp of Gwen and Peter's lives to feel confident people will just assume 'spider-things' are things not to be pried into.

Kate nocks her arrow, ready to fire if necessary. Ghost Spider initiates the Bouncy Ball Protocol. And Silk -- Silk is joining in after her fellow spider like clockwork.

"We are VERY funny--" she begins with only a SLIGHT lack of convictino as her fingers shoot webs to either side of her, creating a slingshot she can use to wind up -- and LAUNCH herself at the kneeling Bruin, headfirst.

"--AND IT'S OKAY FOR THERE TO BE TWO GRIZZLIES!"

BRUIN - poor, misunderstood BRUIN - is starting to protest when he is introduced to Ghost Spider's feet at the same time he gets hands on experience with Silk's shoulder driving into his sternum. He's reeling backward, hobbled and partially-webbed to the street by the time both spiders are rebounding; Silk ricochets off him, angling to land with a gymnast's grace on a nearby building, before launchboarding off the side of it to deliver a second kick to the back of the man's head just as Ghost Spider delivers one to the front. It's a remarkable display of acrobatics and teamwork that can only be enhanced if they were to -- were to-- oh my god she's going for it--

And this is the story of how Silk angled for a totally awesome mid-air high-five with Ghost Spider while BRUIN, blown up, webbed, temporarily blinded and deafened and also hit a lot, teeters, totters--

"... All I wanted... was an invulnerable car full of money...!"

--and then collapses, bear-face-first.

"Tell them -- my name was Bru--*"

"Man," mutters Cindy.

"Poor Grizzly."